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Hokkaido: Taxi driver witnessed woman setting boyfriend on fire with gas torch

Asami Koga (Twitter)

HOKKAIDO (TR) – Over the summer, Hokkaido Prefectural Police arrested a 45-year-old woman living in the town of Niikappu on suspicion of attempted murder.

According to media reports, Asami Koga, who while drunk, used a portable gas torch to set her boyfriend on fire at their residence early on August 30.

Akihiko Sekiya, 41, was later confirmed dead at a hospital.

Upon her arrest, Koga, a breeder and seller of race horses, generally acknowledged the allegations, the Shizunai Police Station said.

In looking into the matter, the site for weekly tabloid Flash spoke to the taxi driver who drove Koga home just before the incident.

Asami Koga (Twitter)

“His face and long hair went up in a flash”

At around 1:15 a.m. on August 30, the driver pulled the cab up to the residence. Koga, who had been out drinking in a nearby town, was in the back seat.

“I don’t have any money,” she told the driver. “I’ll go check inside.”

The driver accompanied Koga, who was unsteady on her feet, to the door. After her husband answered, they got into an argument.

The driver said that nothing to this point was unusual in his line of work. However, what happened next was.

During the dispute, Sekiya tumbled over into a plastic bottle of kerosene that had been placed at the door, with some of the liquid splashing onto his hair and face. Koga then used the gas torch to set him ablaze.

“His face and long hair went up in a flash,” the driver said.

According to Flash, the whole incident was recorded by the dashboard camera inside the cab.